Three years after the death of war photographer Isabelle Reed in a car accident, an exhibition is organized in her honor. At the request of the gallery, her husband Gene delves back into Isabelle’s files with the help of his eldest son Jonah, who has returned to the family home as a father himself. But unlike them, Conrad, in the midst of adolescence, has not recovered from the death of his mother and the secrets that surround the resulting drama…

Picture gallery

Silence is louder than bombs. This is the subtext of the first English movie by Norwegian director Joachim Trier, who won at Cannes in 2011 with Oslo, August 31st. Built around three men haunted by the memory of a woman (mother, wife, but above all a chimera), Louder Than Bombs is a movie of infinite tenderness, lost like its characters in the mystery that represents a labyrinth of emotions. The camera scrutinizes bodies and faces, especially in a remarkable close-up of Isabelle Huppert, who stares into the camera in silence. It observes the characters as they struggle with their contradictions and secrets, crushed by the weight of unspoken words and conventions. There is something beautiful, mesmerizing and obvious about Louder Than Bombs, as well as an elegance that spans everything from the subtle and mature writing to the wonderful actors (Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg and newcomer Devin Druid).